The 'war' for our data

With the rise of the digital world our privacy seems to be ‘killed’. Allthough we try to do everything to rise the public awareness about the privacy pressure the digital world creates we still seem to lose our data to the big companies and governments. Even new laws do not prevent that our personal data is in the hands of more people and companies.

Moby has in the embedded video a great quote: ‘everything which is digital isn’t private’. We have created a world where it is easier to get personal information via new media then the use of high tech surveillance. It is even for companies a lot cheaper to follow customers online then to buy expensive CRM tools. As a consumer we have unlimited access to information and communication and most of the time it is for free. But of course there is a price to pay. The price is our lives and personal data. We have become the products! 

We could go to a scary future when all those big companies have unlimited access to our personal information and so the have information about our buy habits. When they keep looking at their markets from the perspective of profits, growth and consumption we create a world of consuming sheeple. Will we get a better world when we do that? I do not think so. 

Privacy?

Many people think about privacy the wrong way. The think it is about the things other people can or may not know. But that is not what privacy is all about. Privacy is about the things you do of which you want to decide who knows it and who can access it. With other words, privacy is about being in control of your own data. And every human being needs privacy. You cannot life without it. And beside all this no one wants to be played with via advertisements and commercials by big companies. This is the one-dimensional view on data, marketing and consumption. A view in which only the company really profits from it. 

At this moment we have created a world where people are unaware of the personal data they leave behind online. These are the same people who do not know what the possibilities are to protect your personal data. They do not know the tools to collect your own personal data and use it for your own ‘profits’ and goals. In healthcare we see the rise of the quantified self. Here we collect continuously our own data and use it within our private networks to share it and to help each other. We will see this development in more branches. 

Being in control of your own data and even use it as a currency towards companies. Will that be the future of personal data and privacy? I believe we move slowly towards this world. A world where what you know about me, I know about myself. This will be a far more equal relationship between company and customer. Before we move towards this world we will see first some excesses within the field of privacy and big data. The whole story behind the NSA is just a beginning. But we already see a rise in app’s and software which protects your personal data and encrypts your communications.

Data for a meaningful world and planet

When we have all that data, what will we really do with it? We are from a world where mass media created the need for people to buy stuff. I consume so therefore I am is what advertisement made us believe. Image a world where this mindset and way of dining business is being continued. We make the old world more efficient and forget to move forward in human development. We will not create a world based on human values but on economic dominance. Are you happy with that? 

We already see the downside effect of new technologies which are being used from the old paradigm of more growth, better and faster. Remember new technologies in mirrors which make us look happier so we buy more. Or talking train windows which send commercial messages towards our sub consciousness. All examples of new technologies focussed on getting us buy more stuff we do not really need. 

But if we make a shift and use technology and data to become more human centered then we could make a beautiful leap forward. The use of personal data to get better and more equal interaction between companies and markets. Data as a means of value where both sides profit from. But the most interesting challenge is to use this data and new technologies to become more human centered. Companies who help us buy less and make us feel better. That’s the way we should go and what should become profitable for companies. I believe companies who act on social value instead of economic value will be the winners of the future.

A new awareness about the power of data

Personal data has two sides; a powerful and positive side but also a dark side. It can stimulate our free society but also end it. It is all about what we will do with it the upcoming decade. We will make more data, we will share more and we will demand to be in control of our data. Companies who respect their markets and create a win - win situation will become the future market leaders. 

Is this the future?